By Javier Silva
Western Sun staff writer
As the lights began to dim in the Constellation Room, formally known as the Galaxy Theater, and the stage lit up with an array of multi-colored flashes, the Cults made their way onto the stage. “I knew right then that I’d been abducted,” blasted out of the speakers followed by a strong drum blast.
The sound created by the Cults can be described like a sun shower of sixties-pop, warming up your body until you begin to sway back and forth and tap your feet to the melodies coming out of their instruments.
The Cults are a fairly new band, powered by Madeline Follin and Brian Oblivion. The duo started off playing shows at coffee shops, bars and other small venues. Their humble demeanor was present when they would thank the audience after each song.
They performed a total of 12 songs; while everyone in the crowd sang along and danced around. Each song put out a positive vibe, which was most apparent from the crowd’s smiles.
“I didn’t think I would be doing this for a living,” remarked Oblivion, “I went to school for design, we just make music we like.” Oblivion spoke of the changes in his life brought on by the bands success, “Traveling and seeing new places is great, there really aren’t any disadvantages to this.”
I asked Oblivion about the music video for “Go Outside,” which uses real footage from the Jonestown Cult. The Jonestown Cult leader Jim Jones convinced his followers to move to Port Kaituma, Guyana to live the perfect life, to which Jones later killed all of his followers and himself by putting poison in Kool-Aid.
“Well first we made a video and we had a meeting with the record company and talked about ideas, then finally the last idea was said to be impossible, so they didn’t even want to talk about it. The idea was presented and we decided to just go for it. I know the guy that runs the Jonestown Institute so I contacted him and just asked.”
The video was filmed on a green screen which Oblivion remarked to be a long process, “We had to mimic the exact movements of people that were actually in the old film, every movement had to be precise. Madeline got it right away, perfectly of course, it took me several tries.”
If you’re not familiar with this band I would strongly urge you to check them out. The music video for “Go Outside” is truly an outstanding work of art. The bands live performance is nothing short of excellence.
